You remember You've Got Mail, right? The classic 1998 film starring our favorites Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. It's extremely reminiscent of Catfish. A man and a woman meet in an online chat room, strike up a friendship, and it eventually turns into more - all without knowing (at least, at first) that they know each other and are business competitors. It's an adorable romantic comedy. You can't possibly forget the moment when Tom Hanks met her in Riverside Park and Meg Ryan said, "I wanted it to be you." But do you remember the gold mine of actors playing their friends, co-workers, and family?
Dave Chappelle
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
Yeah, I’m talking about that Dave Chappelle. He’s Joe Fox’s (Tom Hanks) friend, Kevin Jackson, in the movie. If you forgot about him completely (since this character is nothing like his wacky characters on The Chappelle Show), try to remember when checked out Meg Ryan’s in the café for Joe, saying, “Well... if you don't like Kathleen Kelly, I can tell you right now... you ain't gonna like this girl."
Steve Zahn
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
Yup, this Dallas Buyer’s Club star had a co-starring role back in 1998, featuring some awesome long, golden hair. In the movie, he is George, Kathleen’s co-worker at The Shop Around The Corner. He’s the one who suggests that Mr. NY152 is the “Rooftop Killer” and that is why he couldn’t make their date, because he was obviously in jail.
Heather Burns
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
You probably didn’t even recognize her, but Burns is also Miss Rhode Island from Miss Congeniality. In You’ve Got Mail, Burns has much darker hair and a less bubbly personality, as Kathleen’s friend, Christina, who reminds us of the time Kathleen thought her then-boyfriend, Frank, was The Unabomber.
Sara Ramirez
Warner Bros. Pictures
This Grey’s Anatomy star doesn’t have a starring, or even co-starring, role in this movie. She’s on screen for less than 2 minutes, but to jog you’re memory, she’s the cashier at the cash-only line at Zabar’s who won’t let Kathleen use her credit card (because, duh).
Cara Seymour
Warner Bros. Pictures
Right now, you can catch her as Sister Harriet on The Knick but remember when she was kind of creepy as Gillian Quinn, the woman engaged to Joe’s dad, but actually winds up running off with the female nanny? She made us all slightly uncomfortable when she tried hitting on Joe.
Greg Kinnear
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
Everyone knows Greg Kinnear, he’s on TV in Rake and you can’t forget him in Little Miss Sunshine. But do you remember his slightly obnoxious character Frank Navasky? Every time he spoke, you couldn’t believe there was a person who believed their own bullshit so well, but Frank did. Re-watching You’ve Got Mail, you can totally understand why Kathleen never falls in love with Frank.
Parker Posey
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
She was Party Girl and Kitty Kowalski in Superman Returns, so it was probably easy to forget when she was Patricia Eden, Joe Fox’s kind of terrible girlfriend. She’s abrasive and rude, only concerned about herself. Like when she and Joe are trapped in an elevator, she’s carrying on about something in purse while everyone is making plans to do something with their lives once they’re out of the elevator.
Jean Stapleton
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
The world loves and remembers her as Edith Bunker on All In The Family, but we’ve still got love for her as Birdie Conrad. She was like a mother to Kathleen after her own mother passed away. She was a sweet, lovable character that made you wish she was your mom or grandma and would make you little sandwiches and tea when you were having a life crisis.

Universal Pictures via Everett Collection
Oddly enough, the body-swapping genre has been one of the most consistent in Hollywood. This somewhat campy story tradition focuses on two characters, often a parent and child but occasionally friends, swapping bodies unexpected, leading a comedy of errors to ensue. It may be hard to believe that this entire genre began with an 1800s novel titled Vice Versa. People might also not connect the countless Freaky Friday remakes with an actual children’s book by Mary Rodgers. This genre may be slowly dying as people’s interest in magic requires teenage wizards or shiny vampires. However, there have quite a number of films that have played to, played with, or played against this popular trope.
Here’s some of the most famous, and forgettable, Body Switching Movies:
Freaky Friday (1976)
Fans of Oscar winner Jodie Foster will remember her as a tomboy in this classic Disney movie. Based on the popular kid's book, Foster’s character swaps places with her housewife mother (Barbara Harris) after the two simultaneously wish to switch places (Boom! It happens just like that). This was before the days of assigning rules or logic to magic. That may be why it’s only the one Freaky Friday and not a franchise. Prepare yourself for the inevitable Thowback Thursday movie.
Like Father Like Son (1987)
Dudley Moore is best known for his role as Arthur. However, he and the now controversial Kirk Cameron starred in this body swap comedy. The two ingest a bizarre South American potion and switch bodies. This film was released in theaters but has a distinct made-for-TV feel. It’s also a lot darker and less fun than you’d expect from the genre. It’s one of the few non-Hallmark channel acting roles of Cameron… though that isn’t saying much.
Vice Versa (1988)
This film doesn’t credit the classic Victorian story but is a modern retelling of the father/son body swap novel. Fred Savage switches places with his uptight father (Judge Reinhold) after the two conveniently yell they wish to swap places while holding a Buddhist statue. Savage is great as at playing the outspoken adult despite his diminutive stature. Reinhold was also pretty childlike in his role in Beverly Hills Cop, so this isn’t much of a stretch. There are also great appearances by Swoosie Kurtz and Jane Kaczmarek.
18 Again! (1988)
George Burns stars with Charlie Schlatter in this comedy that is a little twisted. 81-year-old Burns switches places with his 18-year-old grandson, putting his life at risk, and allowing Schlatter to do a convincing old-timey accent. Don't confuse it with Zac Efron's film 17 Again... although that's its own kind of body swapping film.
Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
People may forget this Alec Baldwin/Meg Ryan romantic drama. Based on a play of the same name, Ryan goes against type as a misanthropic eccentric who falls in love with Baldwin’s lonely conservative. It channels Dharma &amp; Greg until the film makes a sharp turn. At the couple’s wedding, Ryan gets a kiss from an old man and becomes a different person. You guessed it: they switch bodies. The film then goes on an existential journey about life, love, and youth. Despite being a little depressing, it had surprisingly great performances by Baldwin and Ryan.
Freaky Friday (1995)
In this remake, Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann play the mother daughter duo that switch bodies because of matching magical necklaces. In the book and original movie, the mother is a married homemaker, but in this film Long plays a divorced workaholic.
Wish Upon a Star (1996)
Disney also released this other Freaky Friday-themed kid’s movie. A young Katherine Heigl plays a high maintenance pretty girl (sound familiar?) whose younger sister, played by Danielle Harris of the Halloween franchise, wishes on a star to see what the former's life is like. The two learn, through really high-stakes magical roleplay, to appreciate how tough one another has it. It’s a halfway decent movie but pales in comparison to the two other Disney bodyswap films.
Face/Off (1997)
This film takes a darkly, starkly real take on body swapping. FBI Agent John Travolta literally has his face taken off and attached to the head of his mortal enemy, played by Nicolas Cage. Despite the implausibility of face swapping and the fact that no one points out the vast differences in their bodies, this action movie is amazing. There’s a ton of suspense, a lot of campy fun, and some prime crazy Nic Cage.
Virtual Sexuality (1999)
This British romantic comedy really plays with the genre. A persnickety virgin goes into a machine and designs the man of her dreams. The problem, after an explosion, she wakes up in his body. Talk about loving yourself. This film is fun and focuses on the interesting dating differences between men and women, so the “magic” of body switches doesn’t get too distracting.
The Hot Chick (2002)
If Mean Girls never happened this, might be the role that Rachel McAdams would have been remembered for. She plays a Regina George type who, via a magic earring, swaps places with a thief played by Rob Schneider. Let's just say that Schneider has definitely made worse. It also features Anna Farris and Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Freaky Friday (2003)
This film established Lindsay Lohan as a teen icon. The Parent Trap was a great remake, but this new edgier, raspier Lohan is the girl who went on to rule the early 2000s. It also was Jamie Lee Curtis’ unofficial Activia audition. The actresses play the same feuding mom and daughter that swap bodies after opening up magic fortune cookies. If you haven’t seen this classic, check it out to remember when Lohan became a star.
It’s a Boy Girl Thing (2006)
This forgettable film is on Hulu if you doubt it ever existed. Kevin Zegers, best known for the recent Mortal Instruments movie, and Samaire Armstrong, who is on Resurrection, swap bodies and genders in this incarnation. This film blends the body-swap with the popular gender-bender genre. This means a ton of going into the wrong bathroom jokes.
The Change-Up (2011)
Just a few years ago, when Ryan Reynolds was everywhere, this film was a pit stop on his journey out of the limelight. He plays a wild bachelor who switches places with his married best friend (Justin Bateman). The film feels like lesser Happy Madison rather than a great comedy, despite the talented men at the head of the cast.
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DreamWorks
For the bulk of every Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, moose and squirrel would engage in high concept escapades that satirized geopolitics, contemporary cinema, and the very fabrics of the human condition. With all of that to work with, there's no excuse for why the pair and their Soviet nemeses haven't gotten a decent movie adaptation. But the ingenious Mr. Peabody and his faithful boy Sherman are another story, intercut between Rocky and Bullwinkle segments to teach kids brief history lessons and toss in a nearly lethal dose of puns. Their stories and relationship were much simpler, which means that bringing their shtick to the big screen would entail a lot more invention — always risky when you're dealing with precious material.
For the most part, Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman handles the regeneration of its heroes aptly, allowing for emotionally substance in their unique father-son relationship and all the difficulties inherent therein. The story is no subtle metaphor for the difficulties surrounding gay adoption, with society decreeing that a dog, no matter how hyper-intelligent, cannot be a suitable father. The central plot has Peabody hosting a party for a disapproving child services agent and the parents of a young girl with whom 7-year-old Sherman had a schoolyard spat, all in order to prove himself a suitable dad. Of course, the WABAC comes into play when the tots take it for a spin, forcing Peabody to rush to their rescue.
Getting down to personals, we also see the left brain-heavy Peabody struggle with being father Sherman deserves. The bulk of the emotional marks are hit as we learn just how much Peabody cares for Sherman, and just how hard it has been to accept that his only family is growing up and changing.
DreamWorks
But more successful than the new is the film's handling of the old — the material that Peabody and Sherman purists will adore. They travel back in time via the WABAC Machine to Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and the Trojan War, and 18th Century France, explaining the cultural backdrop and historical significance of the settings and characters they happen upon, all with that irreverent (but no longer racist) flare that the old cartoons enjoyed. And oh... the puns.
Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman is a f**king treasure trove of some of the most amazingly bad puns in recent cinema. This effort alone will leave you in awe.
The film does unravel in its final act, bringing the science-fiction of time travel a little too close to the forefront and dropping the ball on a good deal of its emotional groundwork. What seemed to be substantial building blocks do not pay off in the way we might, as scholars of animated family cinema, have anticipated, leaving the movie with an unfinished feeling.
But all in all, it's a bright, compassionate, reasonably educational, and occasionally funny if not altogether worthy tribute to an old favorite. And since we don't have our own WABAC machine to return to a time of regularly scheduled Peabody and Sherman cartoons, this will do okay for now.
If nothing else, it's worth your time for the puns.
3/5
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Universal Pictures
There was once a time when Chevy Chase was Hollywood's king of comedy films and his magnum opus was no doubt 1985's Fletch. Directed by the late Michael Ritchie (Diggstown), Chase is at the top of his game in this murder mystery that simply does not get old. Chase embodied the new sarcastic smart-ass comedy style of the '80s. Based on the Gregory McDonald book series, the film about a usually-disguised, Lakers-loving LA investigative reporter was a box office hit pulling in a tidy sum of just under $50 million. Some twenty-eight years later, the film holds up with any comedy Hollywood has spewed out in almost three decades.
Fletch set the bar for a generation now all grown up that uses sarcasm as much as their smart phones. Remakes and reboots of the franchise have stalled for years and if ever there is a time for a new comic everyman, it is right now. The closest we came was when King Fanboy director Kevin Smith was ready to resuscitate the series with actor Jason Lee in the lead. However the project never took off, leaving us without a new wisecracking LA reporter that changes his disguises more than his underwear.
We deserve a new Fletch flick, especially in our reboot happy Hollywood that resurrects just about every property they can get their hands on. Furthermore after this tepid summer movie season, God knows we could use a laugh. By the way I wrote this on the laptop I bought with Mr. Underhill's American Express card. Want the number?
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Ah, the English accent. From the Cockney geezer’s rhyming slang, to the clipped elocution of the Brit gent, the twists and turns of the mother tongue in its natural habitat have thwarted many a valiant attempt. Here are five of the absolute worst.
5. Mischa Barton in St Trinian’s
Ealing Studios
Come on. Be fair to the OC babe. She gets one out of 47 British inflections almost right.
4. Keanu Reeves AND Winona Ryder in Bram Stoker's Dracula
Why have one terrible British accent, when you can have two? Fresh off rad dude duty on Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Keanu was perhaps not the obvious choice to play an effeminate British gentleman, but that didn’t stop him getting the part, alongside an equally awful Winona.
3. Demi Moore in Flawless
Maybe she got spun out by the fact she wasn’t playing her usual hottie in this diamond heist thriller set in '60s London, but flawless her British accent is not. Posh Brits tend to pronounce their t’s.
2. Don Cheadle in Ocean’s 11
Cheadle’s mockney accent as ‘Basher’ in the Ocean’s franchise was terrifically bad, but seemingly just a blip on an otherwise stellar filmography. “Leave it aahhhtt!”
1. Christian Slater AND Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Like this ‘Nottinghamshire’ is a real place, anyway. Just keep 80% of your regular accents, fellas.
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Why isn’t Ahsoka in Revenge of the Sith?
That’s been the unifying question around which all speculation and rumormongering related to Star Wars: The Clone Wars since its inception five years ago has revolved. In fact, you could argue that few shows have been more defined by eventually finding out the answer to a particular question than The Clone Wars. On Lost, it was “How will they get off the island?” On Battlestar Galactica it was, “What happens when they find Earth?” How I Met Your Mother is, well, pretty self-explanatory in terms of its unifying question. These shows could be unnecessarily slavish to their defining questions, however. The more interesting series, still, are those built around questions related to a character’s ultimate fate. What will happen to Walter White on Breaking Bad as he becomes more and more a monster? Will Don Draper, that emblem of style and taste on Mad Men, ultimately be rendered a dinosaur, left behind by a more progressive culture that has no use for him or his chauvinism? (He doesn't like "Tomorrow Never Knows" for God's sake!) Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I think, falls into this latter category, because its central question about Ahsoka’s fate is character driven and reflective of the general uncertainty and impending doom facing the Jedi going into Revenge of the Sith.
Well, now we have an answer. Ahsoka Tano did not die. Asajj Ventress did not plunge a crimson blade into her heart, as many had speculated five years ago at the start of the show. Rather, Ahsoka, decided to walk away. She left the Jedi Order and its terrible war behind to create a new life for herself. Kevin Kiner’s traditional fanfare gave way to a subdued, string-heavy cue as she walked out of the Temple and into the hazy sunset of Coruscant’s twilight. Little does she know that her actions have probably saved her life.
RELATED: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Recap: Good Jedi Gone Bad
I can only imagine that Anakin’s despair over losing his Padawan means he will try to drown his sorrow via some hot-and-heavy babymaking with Padmé then promptly leaving for six months to fight the Separatists in the Outer Rim sieges. Revenge of the Sith is nigh, my friends, and the Dark Side’s slow process of stripping away everything Anakin holds dear—including his trust in the Jedi Order—has begun in earnest.
“The Wrong Jedi” began with Tarkin briefing the Council about how the Republic military wants Ahsoka tried for treason before a Senate tribunal. Any Jedi-led trial would be biased. In order to present her before the Republic’s governing body for judgment, however, she would have to expelled from the Order. Mace Windu, increasingly an unlikable hard-ass and the personification of how much the war has changed the Jedi, if you ask me, acquiesced immediately. Yoda seemed to have more misgivings, but he still agreed to summon Anakin and Ahsoka to the Chaber of Judgment. Anakin was bereft. On some level, his whole life has been devoted to bringing order from chaos, a preoccupation with control—and controlling outcomes—that’s essential for his ultimate fall to the Dark Side. He could only turn to impotent rage to protest his lack of control over his Padawan’s judgment at the hands of the Council.
Calling her “Snips” one last time, he stood with her on the platform that raised up into the Jedi’s Chamber of Judgment. A cylindrical cavern, much like the chamber where Jedi are proclaimed Knights, her platform hung suspended in a kind of limbo between Anakin below her and the Council above her, as her fate was decided by forces well beyond her control. It reminded me of Capt. Kirk and Dr. McCoy’s Klingon trial on Qo’nos in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and I hoped a bellicose Mace Windu would shout at Ahsoka, “Don’t wait for the translation, answer me now!” Ahsoka pleaded her case but admitted that her awareness of these events had become clouded. “Clouded by the Dark Side these things are, Padawan Tano,” Yoda said. “Dangerously clouded. But not just surrounding you, surrounding many things in these times.”
NEXT: Ahsoka is expelled from the Jedi Order.
It makes you realize once again how little control the Jedi possess, even when it comes to the Force. For a long time, I, like probably most Star Wars fans, assumed that the Force obeyed the will of Force Users, and that it was a Force User’s intent that determined whether his or her actions are part of the Dark Side. Actually, the Light Side and Dark Sides of the Force exist independent of a User’s actions. By doing certain things, a User can gain the assistance, even approval, of the Light or Dark Sides, but the Force has a curious autonomy. Perhaps it’s because the Celestials we saw in the Mortis arc secretly govern—or serve as a cosmic conduit—for its ebb and flow. It’s almost as if the Light and Dark Sides are diffuse, God-like entities that have to be cajoled into rendering assistance. Even Mace Windu himself at the end of “The Wrong Jedi” used the decidedly religious phrase “The Force works in mysterious ways.”
RELATED: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Recap: Ahsoka on the Run
One thing is certain, the Sith are hellbent to master the Force, not just comply with its will. And to do that they needed to call upon the long-dormant Dark Side. Three generations before Darth Sidious, a Twi’Lek Sith Master broke through the Light Side bubble that had shrouded the Galaxy like a security blanket for a millennium and allowed the Dark Side to enter in once again—to the degree that its reemergence was felt even by the Jedi. His apprentice, the Bith scientist Rugess Nome, a.k.a., Darth Tenebrous, and then his Muun apprentice Hego Damask, Darth Plagueis, worked to widen this Dark Side rift until it could overwhelm the Light Side and engulf the Galaxy. The only way they would achieve ultimate victory is for the Jedi to become their servants, as well, which they finally achieved by getting them to give up their peacekeeper ways and fight this galaxy-spanning war for them. The sad truth is, Barriss Offee is right. And the wrongheadedness of the Order's Kafkaesque treatment of Ahsoka shows just how far the Jedi have fallen—they’re already doomed because they’ve strayed from the path of the Light. Order 66 is just a formality at this point. Just like how this ceremony to expel Ahsoka was merelt a formality. The Jedi weren’t going to listen to her testimony. They had already made up their minds. Anakin shouted “You can’t do this!” as they stripped her of her Padawan braid, and, with an extreme close-up of Ahsoka’s sad tennis-ball eyes as they read the verdict, told her she was expelled from the Order and would be served up to the Republic to face whatever justice they deem necessary to mete out.
Devastating.
NEXT: Anakin goes where the Tooka cats roam…to hunt down Ventress and get some answers.
Anakin brought in Padmé to represent Ahsoka before the Senate hearing. If his former Padawan didn’t already know about their relationship, the fact that Padmé was Anakin’s go-to choice for her defense council probably sealed it. Anakin, meanwhile, went down into the Underworld to find Ventress and figure out what had happened.
Down in Blade Runner-ville, where the Tooka cats roam, life was returning to normal after that fire at the warehouse where Ahsoka was captured. The night was sticky, and the neon lights of cantinas shone with a hazy blur. Ithorians were clustered here and there. And a saber-less Asajj Ventress was strolling along, only to sense a hooded Anakin Skywalker on a catwalk above her, ready to pounce. When Anakin has his hood raised, like he did as Darth Vader when executing the members of the Separatist council on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith, you know he means business. Where Ventress caught Ahsoka unaware, now Anakin caught the ex-Sith assassin by surprise. He Force Choked her, then clutched her slender throat with his fist, as if he was about to break her neck the way he does Captain Antilles' at the start of A New Hope. But he let her speak. “When I heard your little rat was on the run, I thought she might bring a large bounty. I was going to catch your pet and turn her over to the authorities.” She was interested in money and revenge but then realized she and Ahsoka had a lot in common. They had both been abandoned by their masters and were now left alone and directionless. She was basically saying that Anakin is no better than Dooku, which is partly true, since Anakin will even take Dooku’s place at Darth Sidious’ side.
RELATED: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Recap: Bombed, the Jedi Temple Is
Ventress said that the hooded figure who snuck up on her and stole her mask and lightsabers must have been another Jedi. Not even Anakin was able to mask his Force signature around her as completely as this other person did. Then she realized Ahsoka had spoken to someone else at the Temple…Barriss. It was Barriss who sent them to that warehouse, knowing the explosive nanodroids would be there for the perfect frame-up. Anakin was convinced. But he left Ventress by notifying her that if she was lying, she was as good as dead. I loved Ventress’ reaction to that. “Such promises,” she snarled. Let’s face it, she did seem to go out of her way to antagonize him, though, by calling Ahsoka both a “rat” and a “pet” in the same breath.
Now for Ahsoka’s second trial in a span of 22 minutes. She was again on a platform hanging over an abyss, but this time stood in a cavernous chamber that looked much like the Death Star interior as revealed in the seminal game Star Wars: Battlefront II. Presiding over it was Palpatine himself. Yes, Tim Curry, Rocky Horror star and the one-time menacing concierge at New York’s Plaza Hotel, is now the voice of the Chancellor after the sad death of the great Ian Abercrombie. This Palpatine is a bit more snide because Curry is snide, though I thought all of the smoldering menace Abercrombie injected into the part was still there in this new interpretation. There’s just a little more growl in Curry’s Palpatine, a bit more emphatic rolling of the character’s R’s.
NEXT: Barriss Offee reveals her true nature, and Tarkin shows he’s a master of the sarcastic slow clap.
Tarkin, the prosecutor, said he would be seeking the death penalty on behalf of the state. As Ahsoka’s defense council, Padmé asked why the Padawan would kill someone using a method so easily traced back to her, i.e. Force choking the life out of Letta Turmond? When it came time for Tarkin’s rebuttal, he slow-clapped his mock approval of Padmé’s argument, the true mark of villainy, then brought up the valid point that Ahsoka had been seen fraternizing with known war criminal Asajj Ventress. I half expected him to follow that up with Chang’s “Sar-cas-tic claps” from Community.
Anakin was on the warpath. He showed up at the Temple and barged into Barriss’ dorm, where she was meditating, and grilled her about her last communication with Ahsoka. He picked up her lightsaber and inspected it, the way he does so many years later when he looks at Luke’s saber in Return of the Jedi. He decides there is only one way to find out the truth: to swing that saber at Barriss to see how she would react. If she didn’t raise another saber (or two) to defend herself and was struck down by his blow, then she would have been revealed to be innocent. And he would have killed her. If she withdrew Ventress’ twin sabers and defended herself, then she was guilty. Kind of a witch-trial scenario here. If she floats, she burns. If she drowns, she’s innocent, but still dead.
RELATED: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Recap: Darth Sidious Shows Maul Who’s the Master
So obviously Barriss revealed her true nature, as almost all of us had deduced last week, and withdrew Ventress’ blades to parry Anakin’s attack. “I think they suit me,” she purred when Anakin asked why the hell she didn’t get rid of them. They ended up fighting all through the Temple, and even on its rooftop where a younglings lightsaber class was taking place, with hotheaded young Petro and Gungi in attendance. She yelled at one point that the only thing the Jedi Council believes in is violence, which is I guess why she decided to mock their priorities by bringing a major fight to the Temple itself. She dueled with such ferocity, using I believe the Jar’Kai technique employed also by Ventress and Darth Plagueis, that it seems extremely likely she’s turned to the Dark Side. But she was also saying that she found the Jedi to be warmongers, a point of view that fits her since she’s spent part of the war as a healer dealing with the casualties from one of the conflict's most terrible battlefields, Drongar. Maybe she just had enough. And I know I know, this doesn’t account for her previously canonical demise at the blaster of Commander Bly, being gunned down alongside Aayla Secura on Felucia. But come on, that was just in a one-off comic (“Reversal of Fortune,” I believe), and isn’t this more interesting?
Watching Anakin wield two blades (his and Barriss’ old saber) in a fight through the temple eerily foreshadowed his role in Operation Knightfall, taking place possibly just months after this. The fact that a Jedi could be a traitor capable of turning against the Republic—not to mention the ease with which the Council could fall into Barriss’ trap and turn against one of the good guys in Ahsoka—unquestionably results in Anakin doubting the Jedi and thinking they can be corrupted. The pivotal puzzle pieces that’ll allow Order 66 are very much being put into place.
NEXT: So what’s the Hitchcock connection this time? And does Barriss have a point about the Jedi?
Anakin burst in to the Senate tribunal right as the verdict was about to be read. He had Barriss with him, in chains. She offered up a full confession. After all, if she was trying to make a point by bombing the Temple, shouldn’t she let people know what that point is, rather than try to shift the blame onto someone else? She said the Jedi have become an army for the Dark Side, fallen from the Light they once held so dear. She has a point. Except that no true pacifist, if that’s what she thinks she is, would execute a bombing to get that pacifist statement across. Not to mention that it seems very much like she has turned to the Dark Side herself. And finally, it seems impossible she could have bombed the Temple and been smuggled into that Republic prison to kill Letta without assistance. Assistance from those wanting to discredit the Jedi. Who else could that be but the Sith and their allies? The Sith who are in fact in control of the Republic and who already have the Jedi doing their bidding in this war. No matter how you look at it, Barriss’ actions don’t align with her stated goals. She’s hopelessly misguided, or has been terribly used, or in fact was lying on the witness stand because she outright embraces serving the Dark Side. I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned up dead soon enough, so that whoever her collaborators are can keep her quiet.
RELATED: ‘Star Wars’ Authors Reveal How to Make the Best Episode VII
All of this was devastating for Ahsoka, as you can well imagine. And it’s here that we have the Alfred Hitchcock connection writer Charles Murray intended for the episode to have when he titled it “The Wrong Jedi.” That’s an obvious reference to Hitchcock’s Neorealist-inflected The Wrong Man, the one time in his career that he rejected his mantra “My movies aren’t a slice of life, they’re a slice of cake” and made a movie that actually did hold up a mirror to society. To devastating effect. The Wrong Man starred Henry Fonda as a night club musician who is mistaken for an armed robber because of a striking resemblance and forced to stand trial. Whereas Hitch’s other “wrong man on the run” stories (The 39 Steps, Saboteur, North by Northwest) were stylish, sexy affairs of innocent men getting into adventures, meeting beautiful women, and not only clearing their name but saving the day by stopping some threat against the society that’s persecuting them, The Wrong Man shows the deeply felt, deeply disruptive, ultimately devastating effects of being wrongly accused. [SPOILER ALERT!!!] Though Fonda’s character is ultimately exonerated, his wife (Vera Miles) has lost her mind throughout the course of the trial and his incarceration and ultimately has to be confined to a sanitarium. This is what’s happened to Anakin and Ahsoka, but minus the romance and with the genders reversed. Ahsoka has been cleared, but she’ll forever be scarred, and Anakin may not have lost his mind, but it’s pushed him one step closer to embracing the Dark Side.
NEXT: Ahsoka proves she’s the Jedi the Order needs. Just not the one they deserve.
This ordeal was Ahsoka’s trial, the true test of whether she is no longer a Padawan but a full-fledged Jedi Knight. She passed. And the Order was ready to welcome her back as a Knight. But it was not meant to be. If the Council doesn’t trust Ahsoka, how could she trust herself? Not to mention that her experience of being on the run has given her a sense of the "shoot-first ask-questions-later" mentality the Republic has increasingly adopted. Could it be that Ahsoka actually agrees with Barriss’ assessment of the Republic and the Jedi? No matter what was fueling her decision, she realized the Order was no longer for her. At least until she had discovered more fully what she’s made of on her own. She’s been cloistered too long in the Jedi’s cradle of power. Now that she’s seen how so many of the Republic’s less fortunate citizens live, how could she stay there?
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When Anakin offered her back her Padawan braid, she closed his hand and gently refused it. And she walked out. My favorite moment in this scene, was how, on the right edge of the frame, Obi-Wan was actually going to go after Ahsoka and Anakin, but Plo Koon softly put a hand on his shoulder to hold him back. This was not a matter Obi-Wan, nor the Council, nor Anakin himself could decide. Only Ahsoka could. The fact that she wanted to walk away from a life of power, privilege, material comfort, and military authority, means that Ahsoka is the Jedi the Order truly needs, someone capable of letting go, who isn't defined by status and attachment. However, she may not be the Jedi the Order deserves. Just think how different she is from Anakin, who will cling to power and authority above all else, whose world is shattered when he’s not promoted to “Master” when earning a seat on the Council. He will fight to preserve everything he’s attached himself to, even if it means destroying all of it in the end like a petulant child who’d rather ruin his playthings than let someone else get their hands on them.
What was a revelation, though perhaps with hindsight not a particularly startling one, is that Ahsoka seems to be aware of Anakin's secret marriage to the good senator from Naboo. When Anakin said he had also thought about leaving the Order, she said, "I know." Eventually, Anakin will walk away, much like Ahsoka. Except that unlike Ahsoka he will insist upon leaving the Order in rubble in his wake.
Ahsoka’s choice to walk the earth—or walk the galaxy if you will—is the best possible outcome for her. It proves she’s the kind of Jedi the Order needs most of all, the kind of Jedi who, like Luke Skywalker a generation after her, is willing to lay down her lightsaber. And because of that, it means she made herself a true ally of the Light Side and will probably survive the events of Order 66 to come, as all of her former comrades around her fall.
Will we see Ahsoka again? Who knows. Part of me hopes not, for the sake of the character. But if Lucasfilm Animation ever wanted to continue the storytelling of the Clone Wars series past the events of the Clone Wars itself, much like the way the Star Wars: Republic comics series became Star Wars: Dark Times after the events of Revenge of the Sith, and explore the era between Episode III and Episode IV, Ahsoka would be an extremely worthwhile character with whom to do that.
Until that day, if it ever comes, I feel like Ahsoka has reached full maturity as a character. The circle is now complete. And the Force is truly with her, perhaps more than ever before.
To face uncertainty is to face life. That’s what Ahsoka did. And that’s what we Clone Wars fans must now do, since another season has ended and we don’t know when or where we’ll next see our beloved show. All we know is that there will be more. And when that day comes, when we get to explore that Galaxy Far, Far Away in animated form once again, your recapper will be there ready to geek out with you once again.
May the Force be with you all.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Lucasfilm]
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TCA is in full swing and in the spirit of revealing the best of TV’s upcoming events, Fox announced four new series to be added to its slate.
In addition to filling out its Animation Domination block with new late night summer shows Axe Cop and High School USA! (featuring the voices of Mad Men star Vincent Kartheiser, Mandy Moore, Megan Mullally, Patton Oswalt, and more), the network dropped details about its long-form event series from M. Night Shyamalan and Band of Brothers writer Bruce C. McKenna. Both series are described as “high-impact, 10- to 12-part events” by Fox CEO Kevin Reilly.
The first series, Shyamalan’s Wayward Pines is, of course, a mystery series sure to be full of Shyamalan’s signature “unexpected” twists. Based on the novel Pines by Blake Crouch, the series will deliver its secret service agent protagonist into a veritable smorgasborg of Shyamalanian fruit: he goes to the small town of Wayward Pines, Idaho in search of two federal agents but finds himself with even greater questions and the fear that he may never leave the town alive.
McKenna’s event series, Blood Brothers, takes a tone more rooted in reality, telling the true story of the West Point class of 1861 as they graduate and are unleashed right into the bloodiest fray in American history: the Civil War. Classmates and friends find themselves on opposite sides of the country’s polarizing conflict but for the Blood Brothers in question, their bonds prevailed over the violence. Coming off of the huge critical (and relative box office) success of the Civil War drama Lincoln, Blood Brothers could be a good move for Fox.
The long-form series don’t yet have release dates, but according to Reilly, "These two series are the first of many big ideas, big names and big talent that you can anticipate will be on our air in the next 12-24 months."
The late night series include Axe Cop (about “the most badass who ever existed”), High School USA! from Community’s Dino Stamatopoulos (a.k.a. Star Burns), and an untitled animated series starring identical twins and stand-up Kenny and Keith Lucas. The three animated series debut July 27 during Fox’s new Animation Domination block from 11 PM to 12:30 PM ET.
[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]
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David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas consists of six stories set in various periods between 1850 and a time far into Earth's post-apocalyptic future. Each segment lives on its own the previous first person account picked up and read by a character in its successor creating connective tissue between each moment in time. The various stories remain intact for Tom Tykwer's (Run Lola Run) Lana Wachowski's and Andy Wachowski's (The Matrix) film adaptation which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The massive change comes from the interweaving of the book's parts into one three-hour saga — a move that elevates the material and transforms Cloud Atlas in to a work of epic proportions.
Don't be turned off by the runtime — Cloud Atlas moves at lightning pace as it cuts back and forth between its various threads: an American notary sailing the Pacific; a budding musician tasked with transcribing the hummings of an accomplished 1930's composer; a '70s-era investigatory journalist who uncovers a nefarious plot tied to the local nuclear power plant; a book publisher in 2012 who goes on the run from gangsters only to be incarcerated in a nursing home; Sonmi~451 a clone in Neo Seoul who takes on the oppressive government that enslaves her; and a primitive human from the future who teams with one of the few remaining technologically-advanced Earthlings in order to survive. Dense but so was the unfamiliar world of The Matrix. Cloud Atlas has more moving parts than the Wachowskis' seminal sci-fi flick but with additional ambition to boot. Every second is a sight to behold.
The members of the directing trio are known for their visual prowess but Cloud Atlas is a movie about juxtaposition. The art of editing is normally a seamless one — unless someone is really into the craft the cutting of a film is rarely a post-viewing talking point — but Cloud Atlas turns the editor into one of the cast members an obvious player who ties the film together with brilliant cross-cutting and overlapping dialogue. Timothy Cavendish the elderly publisher could be musing on his need to escape and the film will wander to the events of Sonmi~451 or the tortured music apprentice Robert Frobisher also feeling the impulse to run. The details of each world seep into one another but the real joy comes from watching each carefully selected scene fall into place. You never feel lost in Cloud Atlas even when Tykwer and the Wachowskis have infused three action sequences — a gritty car chase in the '70s a kinetic chase through Neo Seoul and a foot race through the forests of future millennia — into one extended set piece. This is a unified film with distinct parts echoing the themes of human interconnectivity.
The biggest treat is watching Cloud Atlas' ensemble tackle the diverse array of characters sprinkled into the stories. No film in recent memory has afforded a cast this type of opportunity yet another form of juxtaposition that wows. Within a few seconds Tom Hanks will go from near-neanderthal to British gangster to wily 19th century doctor. Halle Berry Hugh Grant Jim Sturgess Jim Broadbent Ben Whishaw Hugo Weaving and Susan Sarandon play the same game taking on roles of different sexes races and the like. (Weaving as an evil nurse returning to his Priscilla Queen of the Desert cross-dressing roots is mind-blowing.) The cast's dedication to inhabiting their roles on every level helps us quickly understand the worlds. We know it's Halle Berry behind the fair skinned wife of the lunatic composer but she's never playing Halle Berry. Even when the actors are playing variations on themselves they're glowing with the film's overall epic feel. Jim Broadbent's wickedly funny modern segment a Tykwer creation that packs a particularly German sense of humor is on a smaller scale than the rest of the film but the actor never dials it down. Every story character and scene in Cloud Atlas commits to a style. That diversity keeps the swirling maelstrom of a movie in check.
Cloud Atlas poses big questions without losing track of its human element the characters at the heart of each story. A slower moment or two may have helped the Wachowskis' and Tykwer's film to hit a powerful emotional chord but the finished product still proves mainstream movies can ask questions while laying over explosive action scenes. This year there won't be a bigger movie in terms of scope in terms of ideas and in terms of heart than Cloud Atlas.
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It was the trickle of pee heard around the world. Cannes attendees were aghast and/or amused an infamous scene from The Paperboy that shows Nicole Kidman urinating on Zac Efron; this is apparently a great salve for jellyfish burns which were covering our Ken Doll-like protagonist. (In fact the term protagonist should be used very loosely for Efron's character Jack who is mostly acted upon than active throughout.)
Lurid! Sexy! Perverse! Trashy! Whether or not it's actually effective is overshadowed by all the hubbub that's attached itself to the movie for better or worse. In fact the movie is all of these things — but that's actually not a compliment. What could have become somethingmemorable is jaw-droppingly bad (when it's not hilarious). Director Lee Daniels uses a few different visual styles throughout from a stark black and white palette for a crime scene recreation at the beginning to a '70s porno aesthetic that oscillates between psychedelic and straight-up sweaty with an emphasis on Efron's tighty-whiteys. This only enhances the sloppiness of the script which uses lines like narrator/housekeeper/nanny Anita's (Macy Gray) "You ain't tired enough to be retired " to conjure up the down-home wisdom of the South. Despite Gray's musical talents she is not a good choice for a narrator or an actor for that matter. In a way — insofar as they're perhaps the only female characters given a chunk of screen time — her foil is Charlotte Bless Nicole Kidman's character. Anita is the mother figure who wears as we see in an early scene control-top pantyhose whereas Charlotte is all clam diggers and Barbie doll make-up. Or as Anita puts it "an oversexed Barbie doll."
The slapdash plot is that Jack's older brother Ward (Matthew McConaughey) comes back to town with his colleague Yardley (David Oyelowo) to investigate the case of a death row criminal named Hillary Van Wetter. Yardley is black and British which seems to confuse many of the people he meets in this backwoods town. Hillary (John Cusack) hidden under a mop of greasy black hair) is a slack-jawed yokel who could care less if he's going to be killed for a crime he might or might not have committed. He is way more interested in his bride-to-be Charlotte who has fallen in love with him through letters — this is her thing apparently writing letters and falling in love with inmates — and has rushed to help Ward and Yardley free her man. In the meantime we're subjected to at least one simulated sex scene that will haunt your dreams forever. Besides Hillary's shortcomings as a character that could rustle up any sort of empathy the case itself is so boring it begs the question why a respected journalist would be interested enough to pursue it.
The rest of the movie is filled with longing an attempt to place any the story in some sort of social context via class and race even more Zac Efron's underwear sexual violence alligator innards swamp people in comically ramshackle homes and a glimpse of one glistening McConaughey 'tock. Harmony Korine called and he wants his Gummo back.
It's probably tantalizing for this cast to take on "serious" "edgy" work by an Oscar-nominated director. Cusack ditched his boombox blasting "In Your Eyes" long ago and Efron's been trying to shed his squeaky clean image for so long that he finally dropped a condom on the red carpet for The Lorax so we'd know he's not smooth like a Ken doll despite how he was filmed by Daniels. On the other hand Nicole Kidman has been making interesting and varied career choices for years so it's confounding why she'd be interested in a one-dimensional character like Charlotte. McConaughey's on a roll and like the rest of the cast he's got plenty of interesting projects worth watching so this probably won't slow him down. Even Daniels is already shooting a new film The Butler as we can see from Oprah's dazzling Instagram feed. It's as if they all want to put The Paperboy behind them as soon as possible. It's hard to blame them.